Maria Sakkari, the number two seed and world-ranked number nine, was among the many tennis stars thrilling crowds at the WTA Guadalajara Akron Open this week.

After easing through the first rounds, Sakkari, last year’s runner-up, was due to play her quarter-final on Thursday evening at the Panamerican Tennis complex in Zapopan. The 1,000-category tournament offers US$2.7 million in total prize money, with US$454,500 going to the winner and US$267,690 to the losing finalist. The semi-finals are scheduled for Friday, September 22 and the final on Saturday, September 23.

Unfortunately for local tennis fans, U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff of the United States pulled out of the event at the last minute. In a surprise, top seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia lost to unseeded Italian Martin Trevisan in the round of 16 on Wednesday.